Catch A Fallen Star. Amy Vastine

      Ruby lost what was left of her patience and cut him off. “Don’t you dare back out. You know how important this is to her. She has worked really hard, and she wants you to see what she can do. Your opinion matters to her.”

      Violet was dying for her father’s approval. Levi was a bull rider. He wasn’t a huge star but made a decent living doing it. Violet thought riding was the way to prove to him that she was worthy of his attention.

      “I didn’t say I wasn’t coming. I just need you to know that there’s a possibility I might only be able to drop by for part of it. I have a life, you know?”

      He had a life? Ruby was about to hang up but stopped herself. If she turned this into a fight, he would tell Violet he hadn’t come because of what her mother did or said.

      “I know you have a life. You also have a daughter. I trust you’ll do the right thing.”

      “Of course you try to make me feel bad,” Levi complained. “I’m doing the best I can, Ruby. Sorry I’m not perfect like you.”

      Ruby tried not to laugh. “I’m far from perfect, but I am here. Every day. Trying to do what’s best for her.”

      “You’re the one who moved out of Nashville. You’re the one who thought you could do this on your own. That’s not my fault.”

      Levi loved to blame that one on her. As if he was such a big help when they were living within the city limits. Even then, Ruby was raising Violet on her own.

      “You do what you have to do. I hope you make it to the competition. Vi really wants you to be there.”

      Levi wouldn’t let it go. He wanted a fight even if she wasn’t going to give him one. “You act like I said I wasn’t coming. I called to say I was coming but wouldn’t be able to stay the whole time. You love to make me the bad guy, don’t you?”

      “I’m not calling you a bad guy. I will let her know that you’ll be there.”

      “Well, if you’re going to be like this, I’m not sure if I will. I don’t deserve to be treated this way.”

      Ruby sat down at the kitchen table and propped her head on her hand. Classic Levi. He instigated the argument and imagined insults she might have thought but didn’t say aloud. It would be all her fault when he didn’t show up to the competition, and Violet would believe it.

      “What if I promise not to say a word? Will you come then?”

      “You don’t have to say anything to make me feel judged. You say plenty with one of your dirty looks.”

      “I promise not to give you any dirty looks or say anything that could be construed as an insult. Please come,” she begged.

      “I’ll think about it. As much as I want to go to support our daughter, I don’t know if I can trust you.”

      “I hope you will.” She wanted to tell him to put Violet first for once but figured he’d take it the wrong way. Someone was on the other line. “I have to go, Levi. One of my patients is calling.”

      “Right,” he said before hanging up.

      Ruby wanted to scream, but there really was a patient calling. Iris Downing was thirty-nine weeks pregnant and had called last night about some back pain. Today her contractions were coming every ten minutes. She’d been timing them for almost an hour.

      It was time to go to work. A baby would be born today, and it was Ruby’s job to see to it that the delivery went smoothly. Mrs. Downing would be in charge of smoothing out the bumps for the little boy or girl after that. Hopefully she’d be better at it than Ruby was.

CHAPTER NINE

      BOONE AND VIOLET watched Jesse try to get Willow to follow his lead without much success. The horse wasn’t just stubborn. She was completely unmanageable.

      “I think she’s laughing at him,” Violet said.

      The horse whinnied and pulled Jesse backward. Boone chuckled. “She’s definitely laughing at him.”

      “I don’t think she’s going to be a very good therapy horse. I think she needs therapy.”

      Boone laughed harder. “You might be right about that, kid.”

      Violet’s phone chimed in her back pocket. She pulled it out and started typing a reply to someone at the speed of light. Boone had never seen fingers move that fast. She waited for a reply and sent off another message like lightning. The next reply caused her to growl and type even faster.

      “Everything okay over there?”

      “My mom seriously hates me.”

      Boone wondered why kids always thought that. Why did they think not getting their way meant their parents didn’t care about them? Had he been like that as a kid? He didn’t think so.

      “What’s the problem? She tell you she isn’t going to buy you the new Jordan O’Neil record?” Girls Violet’s age all had a thing for the young pop star.

      “Um, no. Ew. I don’t listen to Jordan O’Neil. Do I look like that kind of girl? If I do, please kill me now.”

      So dramatic. Boone shook his head. “I have no idea what those kinds of girl look like. You seem like you’re the right age to listen to someone like him. Don’t you follow him and all the other cute boys in the teenybopper magazines?”

      Violet’s nose scrunched up as she side-eyed him. “Seriously? No one says teenybopper. That’s not even a thing anymore. It’s not 1950, old man.”

      Boone held up his hands in defeat. “Sorry, Miss Smarty-Pants. I’m not up-to-date on all the lingo.”

      “No one says lingo or smarty-pants. You should stop talking,” she said as she shot off another text message.

      If this was what Ruby had to put up with every day, he was beginning to feel bad for her. “Are you going to tell me what your mom’s done that’s got you all upset or not?”

      “She says she can’t come get me on time because someone decided to go into labor. And she’s not sure she can find someone to drive me home.”

      “Oh yeah, she totally hates you,” Boone said with a roll of his eyes. He could tell her stories about his childhood that would give her some serious perspective on what a mean and nasty parent was like. “And the nerve of that lady to decide to go into labor when you have plans. So rude.”